Mirror Adventures: A Tragedy of False Smiles
by InfiniteBakuphoon
Summary: A boy, afraid of his own shadow, and of his own dreams of something greater: his name is Ash. A girl, afraid of nothing, settling for nothing less than to become the greatest trainer that ever lived: her name is Serena. Together, they'll seek to find their place in a world of mirrored personalities, while resisting those who would try to tear their dreams asunder. XY037-based AU.
1. Prologue, Part 1

**Hello everyone, and welcome to **_**Mirror Adventures: A Tragedy of False Smiles!**_ This is a Pokémon fanfic based on the Kalos saga anime episode **"The Cave of Mirrors"**, which features an alternate universe where everyone's personalities are the opposite — or "mirror image", so to speak — of their real-world ones. _Mirror Adventures_ intends to explore this concept further by not only focusing on the mirror versions of Ash Ketchum and his companions from the Kalos saga, but also those of other characters from the anime, and possibly those of characters from other continuities of the franchise as well. Additionally, this story will also explore how everyone's mirrored personalities affect the choices they make, and how the consequences of those choices affect other characters and the wider world around them.

**There are a few things that readers should know about **_**Mirror Adventures**_** before diving in. **Although the first few chapters will have content consistent with a K+ rating, there will be a point in the story (around chapter three) where potentially objectionable and disturbing content will start appearing with increased frequency. Such content will include _**mild-to-moderate depictions of both fantasy and realistic violence**__, __**occasional crude or impolite language, instances of character death (including main characters)**__, __**and mild-to-moderate-level depictions of mature themes (most notably child abuse and neglect of a mostly emotional and psychological nature)**__._ Meanwhile, later chapters will likely include stronger and more graphic depictions of all of the above (but note that this will _not_ include sexual content, which will be limited to kissing, hand-holding, and suggestive references at worst). As such, I've given this fic a T rating as of this time of writing to be safe, although there is a very strong chance that it will be raised to an M rating as it gets closer to the end. Please keep all of this in mind should you choose to invest yourself in this story.

With all of the above said, let's begin.

* * *

**Update (05/29/2020): ****Chapters 1 and 2 have been merged into a single new Chapter 1 entitled: "A Burning Light in the Darkness! Mirror Ash's Adventures at Summer Camp!" Several edits have also been made since the last revision, most of which are small but some of which are significant (the basic plot and characters remain unchanged, however).  
**

* * *

**[Chapter 1]  
****A Burning Light in the Darkness! Mirror Ash's Adventures at Summer Camp!  
**

_**Ladies and gentlemen... boys and girls... we're just one battle away from watching history being made here tonight! For those of you who are just tuning in, our challenger for the title of Champion of Kanto — Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town — has just defeated the second-to-last Pokémon of our defending Champion! That leaves only one — yes, just one! — Pokémon standing in his way to becoming the new Champion, the first in over a generation! He's swept the Pokémon League Challenge and he's conquered the Elite Four... could he even overcome the strength of our legendary Champion? We're about to find out, right here and right now!**_

The challenger named Ash Ketchum stood on the battlefield, his eyes filled with fire and his spirit driven by purpose. Ash was just a young boy — barely older than ten, in fact — and yet here he was, in the middle of one of the greatest trials that anyone, at any age, could face. He, like many boys and girls his age, had a dream. A dream to journey across the world with Pokémon, and to visit many fascinating places and make wonderful new friends. A dream to capture as many Pokémon as possible and train them to surpass all others, and to overcome any and all obstacles in their way. A dream to conquer every gym and earn the right to challenge the most powerful trainers in the world: the Elite Four and the Champion. A dream to become a Pokémon Master; the best, like no one ever was.

Ash — through a combination of courage, skill, and a little bit of luck — managed to accomplish every part of that dream... all except for one. Now the only thing that stood in his way to becoming the best was one last opponent; the opponent that he was about to face with his loyal Charizard by his side. The Pokémon — a large orange dragon with a mighty flame erupting from its long tail — gave a ferocious, earth-shaking roar in anticipation of its final challenge, and deep inside, Ash could feel the same kind of roar erupting from within his soul as well.

_There's no running away from this one,_ Ash told himself. _Not now... not ever again._

Looking straight ahead of him, he could see the distant figure of his opponent on the other side of the stadium. Dressed in an imposing black hooded longcoat, the defending Champion of Kanto...

...wait a minute; what was this guy's name again?

_**Our Champion is about to release his final Pokémon; you all know what it is! This is definitely going to be a battle for the ages, ladies and gentlemen...**_

_That's weird,_ Ash thought to himself as the roar in his soul was quickly replaced by the feeling that something wasn't quite right. How could he not know who the Champion of an entire region was; the Champion that he was in the middle of battling right now!?

But Ash had little time to think about that as the Champion of Kanto threw a Poké Ball into the air. With a pop and an audible surge of energy, a flash of light emerged from the Poké Ball and materialized itself as a Pokémon on the battlefield, revealing itself as...

"_**Dragonittttteeee!**_"

Ash froze upon hearing the mighty cry of his final opponent: a massive yellow dragon with relatively small wings... _deceptively_ small wings. It stood on its two legs with a powerful and dominant posture, staring down at Ash with a dark, almost murderous glare.

But as Ash shifted his eyes away from the frightening dragon, he immediately caught another glare, from his _human_ opponent. And it was at that moment that he realized exactly who this person was...

"P-Professor Oak!? What are you doing here!?"

The Champion of Kanto lowered his hood in response, revealing the face of what was indeed the famous Professor Oak. Silver hair and an aged face defined the man, but nothing stood out to Ash more than the death glare that the Professor gave him; one that was practically as fierce as that of his Dragonite.

"What am _I_ doing here!?" Professor Oak barked, loud enough to reverberate across the entire stadium. "I'm the Champion; I _deserve_ to be here! What are _you_ doing here is the question, Ash Ketchum! Shouldn't you be with your mother right now?"

"N-No...!" Ash blurted out, his voice small and tentative compared to that of the Professor's. "I-I deserve to be here too!"

"Of course you do," Professor Oak replied with a smug, sarcastic smile. "_Crybaby._"

He then turned his attention to Dragonite, his face serious and decisive.

"Let's show him what a _real_ trainer is, Dragonite. _**Finish it!**_"

Professor Oak's Pokémon then lifted itself high above its trainer and began inhaling a seemingly impossible amount of air, all before a massive white sphere of energy started to form around its mouth. Dragonite was about to perform Hyper Beam, one of its most powerful and devastating attacks. With his Pokémon League victory hanging in the balance, Ash knew that he had to make a move now...

...but he didn't; he couldn't. He could only stare in awe at Dragonite as its Hyper Beam grew bigger and bigger, eventually becoming nearly as large as Dragonite itself. Finally, the dragon unleashed its powerful attack, and in an instant, the beam connected not with Ash's Charizard, but rather with Ash himself. The beam exploded on impact, engulfing Ash and his aspirations of Pokémon League victory in flames.

_Well... that's it, I guess. I've failed. My dream is over..._

Those words were more correct than he knew. Because as it turned out, it _was_ just a dream after all...

* * *

Ash awoke to the warmth of thick bedsheets covering his body, a far cry from the warmth and heat of the Hyper Beam that was thankfully as much of a reality as his hopes and dreams. His actual reality was made all too clear by the time displayed on the Voltorb-shaped clock next to his bed: 8:25 AM. Or in other words: just over half an hour before he was due to arrive at Professor Oak's annual summer camp.

Ash felt a sickening sensation grow in his gut as he contemplated this reality. Were Ash an average, typical kid, that feeling would instead have likely been the raw, youthful anticipation that every child felt when something exciting was about to happen; the kind that either kept them hopelessly awake all night, or made them intensely eager to go to sleep so that the next day would come faster.

But when it came to the idea of summer camp, Ash was neither an average kid nor a typical one. So as the light of the rising sun crept into his room and became brighter and brighter with every moment, Ash crept further and further underneath his bedsheets, basking in the warmth and safety they provided from the cold, cruel world outside. And as the hands of his Voltorb-shaped clock crept closer and closer to 9 AM to signal the start of a new and beautiful day, Ash could feel anticipation creeping closer and closer to the very center of his heart, an anticipation that was very different from everyone else's. Because while most kids would imagine adventure, friendship, and fun when thinking about Professor Oak's summer camp, Ash could only imagine fear, embarrassment, and failure, which seemed to be the three great constants of his life.

The morning sun reached just the right position in the sky to send brilliant golden rays of light through the windows of Ash's room, which bathed everything in their glow. And as Ash felt the warmth of the rays even from the deepest depths of his bedsheets, it almost felt to him like the universe itself was trying to tell him what he already knew he needed to do.

And so with a sigh, Ash kicked off his bedsheets, climbed out of bed, and walked over to his closet...

* * *

Roughly five minutes later, Ash was out of his room and walking downstairs. He had chosen a simple red-and-yellow T-shirt and dark blue shorts to wear for the day, a perfect fit for the warm weather that he knew he was likely to encounter on this summer's day.

As he approached the bottom, he could hear the sounds of voices distorted as if coming out of a speaker, all loud enough to fill almost the entire first floor. And as Ash approached the room's large tube TV blaring out said sounds, he could see a figure in a long, pink bathrobe in a deep sleep on the couch in front of the TV. The figure, a woman, appeared to be lying in a rather uncomfortable position on the couch, but it didn't appear to affect her ability to sleep at all, if her slow and gentle snores were any indication.

Moving as quietly as he could, Ash walked over the TV and slowly dialed down the volume before turning off the TV altogether. Right after the TV clicked off, however, a loud, long yawn erupted from the figure and her eyes opened ever so slightly as she started breaking out of her sleep. Before he knew it, Ash was staring straight into the woman's fiery brown eyes, which were nearly the spitting image of his own. That, of course, was because they belonged to...

"Mom!" Ash cried out in surprise. "Um, g-good morning..."

"Morning..." replied Delia Ketchum, the mother of Ash Ketchum, but it barely qualified as a response as a massive yawn overwhelmed her words.

"Man, what a night... I need some coffee."

As Delia rose from the couch and began walking over to the kitchen on the other side of the room, she stopped suddenly, staring curiously at Ash's clothes.

"Um, Ash? Are you going somewhere?"

"Uh, s-summer camp!" Ash rather hastily replied, his heart skipping a beat. "It's today, remember?"

He ended up saying last part a bit more forcefully than he would've liked. His mother appeared unfazed, though, instead giving him the barest amount of recognition that she even heard what Ash just said as she fought off the beginnings of another yawn.

"Ah, that's right," Delia lazily replied, ultimately losing her fight against said yawn. "Almost forgot about that..."

She then approached the kitchen counter and placed a cup into the nearby coffee maker. Hitting the "on" button, the machine filled the kitchen with a quiet hum as it performed its work. A sigh escaped from Delia as she rested herself on the kitchen counter, a pensive look forming on her face.

"Time sure flies, doesn't it?" Delia said ostensibly to Ash, even as she stared off into the distance like she was talking to an invisible friend instead. "It feels just like yesterday when _I_ was eight years old and everything was so innocent and carefree. I mean, when you're eight years old, you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want to be; the whole world's your oyster."

Another sigh escaped her, one much heavier than last time. "How times have changed..."

_BEEP!_ The coffee maker was done. Delia took out the cup right as the last drop of coffee fell from the machine, hot steam hitting her face as she took in the aroma of the drink in front of her.

"Technology _is_ incredible, isn't it?" said Delia, again to no one in particular. "Thank God for one-minute coffee..."

As Delia took her first, long sip of coffee, Ash took this as his cue to step away and leave for summer camp, which was about to start at any moment.

"Wait a minute, Ash!"

"Huh?" He stopped in his tracks at the surprisingly clear sound of his mother's voice; obviously, the coffee had done the trick for her.

"While you're out there," said Delia, "do try to make a new friend out there or something. You know, since it's summer camp. Everyone's going to be there."

"B-But—"

"Please don't, Ash; I'm tired," Delia interrupted. "Last night was rough for me, and I'd really like to hear something good for a change. I mean, you only have one real friend anyway. Do you really think that you're going to survive in this world with just one friend?"

An increasingly uncomfortable silence crept into the room as Ash struggled to find a response for his mother.

"Well, Ash?"

"N-No..." Ash ultimately said.

"Right," Delia replied simply. "So go find one. Do something that you can be proud of today."

She took another sip of her coffee before addressing her son again.

"I guess you'd better get going now, huh?"

"Yeah," Ash responded as he reached again for the door handle. "See you later, Mom."

"See you," said Delia, shifting her attention back to her coffee as Ash opened the door and left the house.

* * *

A gentle breeze greeted Ash as he stepped out into the outside world. From his doorstep, Ash could clearly see the expanse of mountains that flanked the north side of Pallet Town near Route 1, all covered in a seemingly endless expanse of evergreen trees. The view of the mountains juxtaposed with the plains of Pallet Town made the town look larger and grander than it really was, but in reality, the houses and pavement on the ground in front of Ash summarized almost the entirety of what the town had to offer.

There was, however, one exception: Professor Oak's laboratory. The town's sole and defining landmark, the lab was situated on top of its own little mountain right in the middle of Pallet Town, overlooking everything. One could have mistaken the lab at first glance as simply a larger version of one of the near-identical houses on the ground if it weren't for the sheer size of the structure: a two-story monstrosity split into a smaller space about the size of Ash's house on the right, and a much larger, much taller section on the left that almost resembled a giant barn in Ash's eyes. The rounded metallic red roof of the larger part of the lab, along with the building's muted yellow facade and its large open windows, drove the difference home. Perhaps the single most distinguishing part of the lab, however, was the massive wind turbine located just behind the building, towering over it and all of Pallet Town. Its bright yellow blades spun slowly yet dutifully with the help of the gentle breeze sourced from the ocean waves in the south, providing both the lab and the entirety of Pallet Town with its sole source of energy.

Professor Oak's laboratory, however, would not be Ash's destination for the day, as he knew all too well. Rather, he started walking towards the west side of Pallet Town, where he soon spotted a wide expanse of trees in the distance, all forming the border of a massive forest. A pair of bright yellow cones marked an entryway into said forest: a large, dark void from which not even the slightest glimmer of light could be seen.

Ash's heartbeat grew faster and faster with every step that he took towards the trees. And with every step, he fought back the ever-growing urge to turn around and run away; away from the forest and away from summer camp altogether. Those thoughts remained with him as he eventually reached the bright yellow cones and found himself staring straight into the dark void in front of him.

The unknown was in there, Ash knew, and he literally shuddered at the thought of it. But then, he knew that all of his hopes and dreams were in there, too. Because if he couldn't make it through this forest, he realized, then he could never make it through Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon, or even Route 1, let alone ever make it through the Pokémon League Challenge or stand on the same stage as the Champion of Kanto. And if he couldn't fulfill his dream...

Ash shook his head. _No,_ he told himself, a sudden fire rising within him. _I can't be a crybaby. I __**will**__ make it through this forest!_

He took a single step towards the void.

_And summer camp too!_

His one step become two, then three, and then four...

_I'll beat every gym, and the Elite Four, and the Champion!_

...and then his steps became a steady walk, straight into the void.

_**I will become a Pokémon Master!**_

And so, not looking back, Ash disappeared into the darkness and began his journey inside.

* * *

Ash had only taken a few steps into the forest before the burning fire within him was replaced by an overwhelming sense of dread. Although the forest wasn't actually as bad as Ash had been expecting — instead being well-lit and even kind of pretty with bright beams of morning sunlight bursting through the tree leaves above — he couldn't help but fear the possibility of something horrible happening to him in these woods. He had heard stories of people getting ensnared in the labyrinth of Viridian Forest, or making a wrong turn in the deep, dark caverns of Mt. Moon, never to be seen again... or rather, never to be seen _alive_ again. And as Ash pondered over the fates suffered by those unfortunate souls, he wondered what the chances were that he would meet one of those fates himself, in this dark and creepy forest where wild Pokémon were almost certainly—

_crunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunch..._

That sound — a loud, rapid crunching sound — snapped Ash out of his current train of thought, all while instantly eliminating what little solace he may have found over the past few moments. His fear returned in their place, fueled by the realization that there was only one thing in the forest that could make a sound like that: a wild Pokémon.

_crunchcrunchcrunch..._ the sound continued. Ash could easily tell where the sound was coming from; it was somewhere to his left. Did he dare turn around to look? Or, Ash thought, should he just run and get away right now? But maybe then that would make it angry, Ash reasoned further; he couldn't decide what to do.

_crunchcrunchcrunch..._ still the sound continued, and still Ash stood there, paralyzed by indecision. After a little while, however, his curiosity got the better of him as he slowly, daringly turned his head left towards the source of the sound. There, about five feet away from him, was a tree covered with leaves, and on top of one of those leaves was a Weedle.

A Bug-type Pokémon with a small, bright yellow larva-shaped body, Weedle was currently busy munching on one of the many leaves covering the base of the tree, confirming the source of the crunching sound. Ash recognized this particular species of Pokémon immediately, as it was one of the many Pokémon that he, along with every other child in Pallet Town, learned about in school. While he couldn't recall everything that he read about Weedle, he most definitely remembered its two sharp stingers — a large one on its head and a smaller one on its tail — and how they both held a potent venom that Weedle used to ward off both attackers and anyone unfortunate enough to step on it.

That last fact in particular made Ash want to get away from Weedle as quickly as possible, and as it turned out, it apparently didn't even notice that he was there; he had an opportunity to run. But he couldn't help but keep staring at Weedle as it continued to munch on its breakfast of leaves. With each bite, Ash could hear Weedle quietly utter a high-pitched sound that vaguely resembled its name: _wee_... _wee_... _wee_... Even with the limited facial expressions that Weedle were capable of compared to humans or most other Pokémon — it barely even had a visible mouth, for instance — Ash could tell that it was in utter bliss at the moment. It appeared completely relaxed and carefree, with its eyes closed as if it was in the middle of a idyllic dream; each of its sounds might as well have been light snores. For a second, Ash actually thought that Weedle looked kind of adorable there...

...and then it noticed him.

The Pokémon, upon spotting Ash, immediately stopped eating its leaf and stared straight at him, its expression blank and completely unreadable. Ash was struck with fear as he instantly regretted not fleeing from the scene back when he had the chance. He then began wondering if he had made Weedle angry with his presence, and if he was about to incur its wrath in the form of an assault with one of its venomous stingers. But he didn't have much time to contemplate that as Weedle suddenly leapt from its current position — a seemingly impossible feat for a creature that small — and landed near the base of the tree, a mere two feet away from Ash.

Ash himself, who had nearly expected Weedle to impale him with one of its stingers right then and there, cried out in both surprise and panic. If there was any time to run, he knew, now was it. But he couldn't; he could only stand there completely petrified with fear as Weedle continued to stare at him with that same blank, unreadable face. Unfortunately for Ash, things became even more frightening for him as Weedle suddenly took a single, tiny inch towards him. And then another. And then another, and another, and another, each time accompanied by that same high-pitched cry:

_wee... wee... wee... wee... wee..._

"_**W-W-W-WWWAAAAAAHHHHHH!**_"

That was enough for Ash. With absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, Ash made a beeline towards the end of the path of the yellow cones, not once looking back to see if Weedle was following him, or possibly flying through the air again to attack him with one of its stingers. And even as he ran many, many feet away from where Weedle last stood, Ash could practically feel the sensation of a sharp object impaling him in the back practically every other moment, although nothing like that ever actually came to be.

Before long, Ash stopped in his tracks, leaning down and resting his hands on his knees in total exhaustion. His heart was beating so fast that if he had ran any faster or if Weedle had frightened him any greater, he might as well had received that stinger...

"There you are!"

Hearing a voice to his side, Ash turned around to see a familiar face, but not the one that he had been expecting. He assumed he would eventually run into Professor Oak somewhere, but instead he found himself in the presence of _Daisy_ Oak: the granddaughter of Professor Oak.

"Hey there, Ash!" Daisy greeted with a radiant smile on her face. "Long time no see! You're literally _just_ in time. I guess all of that running back there did the trick, huh?"

Ash didn't respond, having not entirely recovered from what he had just experienced not too long ago. His condition wasn't lost on Daisy, who looked at him worriedly.

"Um, are you OK, Ash? You look like you just saw a ghost or something."

"I-I'm fine..." Ash hastily replied, still panting from all the running he had done. Daisy, however, looked rather unconvinced.

"Ash, were you running from a Pokémon back there?"

_No way..._ how could she know that?

"N-No..."

Even though he was certain that Daisy would see right through that lie, he couldn't find the strength to admit that he had in fact been running from a Pokémon... and a tiny bug one, of all things.

"It was a Weedle, wasn't it?"

_Darn it..._ she even knew exactly what Pokémon it was! _But how!?_

"Ash, you don't have to be afraid to tell me. I promise I won't laugh at you or tease you about it, OK? Now, was it a Weedle?"

There was no getting out of this one, Ash knew. With some hesitation, he lightly, barely nodded.

At first, Daisy said nothing and did nothing, appearing completely and strangely unfazed by Ash's response. But before long, Ash could see a smile forming on her face, which soon gave way to giggles, and then finally to flat-out laughter that Daisy could barely control. So much for _that_ promise...

"Oh, Ash! Weedle are completely harmless! They're one of those don't-bother-them-and-they-won't-bother-you type of Pokémon. You didn't try to kick one or anything, right?"

"N-No..."

"Great, then you didn't die!"

"W-What!?"

"Ha ha! Just kidding, Ash!" Daisy laughed again, apparently ignoring the wide-eyed look on Ash's increasingly distressed-looking face. "But seriously, they really won't hurt you. Now Caterpie, on the other hand; those things are _vicious!_ They'll crawl up your leg and stare at you with their little cute-face, and just when you think you've met the most adorable Pokémon ever... _faaawooosh!_ They'll trap you with their String Shot and make you their dinner! And don't even get me started about Butterf— _oh_."

Daisy could now see Ash practically shaking where he stood, his eyes just a few seconds away from exploding in an ocean's worth of tears. She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as she realized that she probably went a bit too far with her description there, and she couldn't help but laugh at her own over-enthusiasm.

"Sorry about that, Ash," said Daisy, placing a gentle hand on Ash's shoulder. "Why don't we just get out of here and meet up with the others?"

Ash nodded in agreement, very much relieved at the idea of finally leaving the forest. And with that, the two continued walking through the forest together.

* * *

It wasn't long into Ash and Daisy's walk through the forest before an awkward silence began to creep in, the result of neither of the two saying a word to each other since their walk began. It also wasn't long, however, before the latter broke the silence.

"So Ash," Daisy began, "how's life been treating you?"

"OK," Ash replied, not in a particularly enthusiastic manner. He knew exactly where a conversation like this would go — "_How's school? Have you made another friend yet? How's your mother been doing?_" — and so he hastily followed through with a question of his own:

"H-How did you know that I saw a Weedle?"

"Well," Daisy began, "wild Pokémon don't really appear in this part of Pallet Town; not usually, anyway. Gramps and I have been doing experiments here to see how Pokémon from the wild adapt to different habitats. We had Caterpie and Rattata here a few weeks ago — and _wow_, you don't want to put them together — but we chose Weedle this week because we figured that they wouldn't bother anyone coming through for summer camp. You know, since they're so docile and all."

"Oh," said Ash, not really understanding much of anything that Daisy just said, but trying his best to sound like he did anyway. He was, however, rather curious about Daisy's earlier claim about Weedle, namely:

"Do they... r-really not bother anyone?"

Daisy blinked at Ash's question, confused. "No, they really don't. Why do you ask?"

"I-I think one of them tried to attack me..."

"That's... pretty unlikely, Ash," Daisy replied simply. "You'll probably find this strange, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it was probably trying to be your friend. They can be... well, kind of over-enthusiastic about things at times."

Daisy said that last part with a smile, but Ash — try as he might — simply couldn't share her joy in talking about a Pokémon like Weedle. He shuddered at the thought of it and was simply thankful that their conversation about Weedle was most likely over at that point, even if it meant that Ash and Daisy no longer had anything to talk about, and that awkward silence would no doubt start to creep in once again.

"Hey, you found Ash!"

Or so he thought, before a new figure suddenly appeared in the distance and started running over to join him and Daisy.

"There you are!"

"G-Gary!?"

It was indeed Gary Oak, the younger brother of Daisy and the grandson of Professor Oak. Standing right next to each other, Ash could see that the two siblings were the spitting image of each other in many ways — the same deep, barely visible viridian eye color; the same dark auburn hair — yet in many ways they were quite different — Gary's narrow, piercing eye shape vs. Daisy's more bright and open ones; an almost impossible-looking spiky hairstyle vs. long, feminine waves running slightly down the back and framing the face.

"You were right, sis!" Gary said to his sister. "He really was in the forest the whole time!"

"I told you he would be," Daisy replied happily. "Now you know what that means: you owe me some Pokédollars, mister!"

"Wait, _what!?_"

"Yeah, remember you said that Ash was probably still in bed this whole time, and then I said 'wanna bet he's in the forest instead?'" Daisy replied with an increasingly wide grin on her face, seemingly ignoring the increasingly incredulous expression on her brother's. "And then _you_ said 'you're on!'"

"I-I... w-was just kidding with that, sis!" Gary protested.

"Oh no, Gary!" Daisy countered as she playfully wagged a finger at Gary. "You can't back out of a bet; not with your own sister! Now, I think that ten Pokédollars sounds fair?"

"_Ten_ Pokédollars!?" Gary cried out. "That's crazy, sis!"

"Winners choose the terms," Daisy shrugged. "Now show me the cash!"

"Right now!?"

"Yep!"

Gary sighed as he began reaching into his pocket. But before he could cough up any Pokédollars for Daisy, she abruptly took him by the arm and pulled him into a tight, sisterly hug, all while laughing hysterically.

"Oh, Gary; I knew you were kidding back there! You gullible thing, you..."

Ash, having witnessed the entire exchange in confused fascination, expected Gary to blush in embarrassment at his sister's antics, but was surprised to see a hint of sadness appear on his face instead.

"You... wouldn't really trick me into giving you ten Pokédollars, right?" Gary asked his sister, surprising her somewhat and leading her to respond with a rather worried look her face.

"What? Of course not," Daisy replied, squeezing her brother tighter as her smile began to return. "You know I always like to mess with you, Gary."

"I know," said Gary, his melancholy gradually giving way to a smile of his own.

"Don't take it so hard, okay?" said Daisy as she let go of her brother, but not before quickly and playfully rubbing her hand through his thick spiky hair, much to his chagrin. "Now, you should really be heading over to Gramps right now. You know how much he hates waiting—"

"Huh?" Ash interjected, startled by what Daisy just said. "Gary, aren't you going to summer camp?"

Unfortunately for Ash, the increasingly less-than-happy expressions on both Oaks' faces almost immediately answered that question for him.

"Sorry, Ash," Gary replied. "I never got a chance to tell you, but... I'm not gonna be at summer camp this year. Gramps is making me do something for him and—"

Ash's heart sank at the revelation, to the point where the whole world disappeared for him at that very moment. While he had been dreading the thought of going to summer camp from the moment he realized that he was going, he had also been holding on to the knowledge that Gary would be there, as he had been every year. Unfortunately, Ash now knew that he wouldn't have that support to hold on to; he was alone.

"Um, Ash? Are you alright?"

Ash was thrust back into reality by Daisy's voice, who along with her brother stared at him with an increasingly concerned look on her face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine!" Ash hastily answered. "But, w-who's gonna be my partner for summer camp?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure, Ash," said Gary, looking thoughtfully into the distance as he contemplated his friend's concerns. "Oh, wait a minute! You could try talking to that new girl that's here! You know, the one with the blonde hair, blue eyes, and big straw hat? You know who I'm talking about, right?"

Ash shook his head, having absolutely no idea who Gary was talking about.

"Well, you can't miss her!" Gary continued. "You'd better get over there; she might even have a partner already! And I'm sure she can use a friend and all, so she'd be great for you. Right, sis?"

"Well, she's, um... let's just stay optimistic about it, right?" Daisy rather nervously replied.

"Um, right," Gary replied to his sister, looking thoroughly confused at her reaction. "Now," — he turned back to Ash — "I've really gotta get going before Gramps gets mad at me."

He then charged in the opposite direction towards the forest, waving to his friend as he ran. "Smell ya later, Ash!"

"See you..." Ash waved back, but by the time he answered, Gary was already gone. Now alone with Ash again, Daisy turned to him with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Hey Ash," she said to him, "I know you're disappointed that Gary isn't going to be at summer camp this year."

"But hey," Daisy continued, her smile returning, "At least you'll get the chance to make some new friends! Just... be careful with that new girl, OK? I hear she can be a handful."

Ash nodded, after which Daisy turned her attention to a large grassy clearing several feet in front of both of them, surrounded by trees and occupied by a large circle of children around Ash's age.

"Now, everyone's right down there," said Daisy, pointing at the clearing for Ash to see. "They've been waiting for you, so let's not keep them waiting for too much longer, okay? I'll be right behind you in a bit."

Ash simply nodded again as Daisy ran off towards where Gary went, leaving him alone for now. He continued forward towards the clearing and towards his fellow summer camp participants, and as he came closer, he was immediately greeted with stares; some from people that Ash knew from school, and some from people that he had never seen before.

One person, however, didn't stare at him at all, which caught Ash's attention. Sitting relatively isolated from everyone else in the circle was a girl with golden blonde hair, a long pink dress, and... a large, pink-ribboned straw hat.

_So that's who Gary was talking about_, Ash realized. She seemed rather uninterested in interacting with any of the other kids around her, even as everyone else appeared to be quite interested in her, for reasons that Ash was unaware of. He could see several of his classmates stare at the straw hat girl every once in a while and have low, whispered conversations right after, which Ash could only assume were about her. She didn't seem to have many friends here, Ash thought, which made him wonder if maybe he himself could befriend this girl and perhaps get to know a little bit more about her.

As he started to walk over to where the straw hat girl was, he began thinking about how he would approach her without completely embarrassing himself.

_Hi! My name's Ash, and I've heard that you're new here. I don't know if anyone's talked to you yet, but I was wondering if maybe you and I can be friends?_

That sounded simple enough, Ash thought, but he could already feel his fear returning as he sat himself next to straw hat girl and opened his mouth to speak. Knowing that it was now or never before said fear overwhelmed him completely, he turned around to the straw hat girl, took a deep breath and...

"H-Hi..."

"Huh?"

The straw hat girl turned around to Ash, her light yet radiant blue eyes meeting his.

"M-My name's Ash," he went on. "I-I've... heard that you're new here..."

He could see the straw hat girl's face darken ever so slightly at his last few words. Nonetheless, Ash continued:

"Um, I-I don't know if anyone's... t-talked to you yet, but I was wondering if... m-maybe you and I can be frien—"

"_Hmph!_" the straw hat girl sharply and suddenly replied, turning away from Ash with her arms crossed tight. Ash, completely blindsided by her response, only managed to eek out a quiet "o-okay, n-never mind..." before looking down at the ground in shame. Needless to say — and to Ash's great disappointment and embarrassment — he would _not_ be making friends with her anytime soon.

"Don't worry about her too much," Ash suddenly heard a voice above him say. "She's been acting that way with all of us."

Startled, he looked up to see a familiar face staring at him: a long-haired brunette girl with a signature bright white-and-red hat, its design roughly resembling the bottom half of a Poké Ball.

"L-Leaf?" Ash exclaimed in surprise, recognizing her instantly from the many classes at school that he shared with her.

"Yep, that's me," the young girl named Leaf replied as Ash stared curiously at the rest of her attire, a rather sporty outfit that seemed more fit for a marathon than an innocent day at summer camp. "You didn't think I wouldn't be here, did you?"

"N-No..."

He could hear a light sigh escape from Leaf at his response.

"You weren't _actually_ supposed to answer that, Ash."

"S-Sorry," Ash replied weakly, but Leaf seemed to ignore him as she sat herself down next to him. She remained silent long enough afterwards for Ash to assume that she was done speaking with him, until he turned around to see Leaf looking in his direction with a rather concerned look on her face.

"Ash, where's Gary?" she asked Ash, locking eyes with him again as she noticed his stare.

"H-He's, um... n-not coming to summer camp this year," Ash stuttered, caught off-guard by Leaf's sudden question.

"What!?" Leaf cried out in shock before crossing her arms in frustration. "Phooey! I was looking forward to crushing him at whatever we're doing this year."

Leaf didn't elaborate any further, and Ash chose not to inquire further. However, one question did come to his mind:

"Um, Leaf?" Ash tentatively whispered to her. "W-Who exactly is this girl anyway?"

Leaf went wide-eyed almost instantly at his question, every inch of her face exploding in complete and utter incredulity.

"You don't know who she is?" Leaf hissed back to Ash. "_Seriously!?_"

He shook his head.

"Ash, do you even watch TV at all?"

"I-I..."

"_**Helloooooo, everyoneeeeee!**_"

That was Daisy's voice, which echoed from the distance sounding loud and rather distorted, almost as if it was being amplified by a megaphone. And indeed, everyone turned around to see Daisy Oak entering the circle with a giant megaphone in her hand. She appeared as enthusiastic as her greeting suggested (maybe even _too_ much so, if the bewildered expressions on everyone's faces said anything), and a smile adorned her face as she prepared to speak again, this time — and perhaps thankfully — without the megaphone.

"Hello again, and welcome to another year of Professor Oak's summer camp! I'm sure that all of you are excited, right?"

A loud chorus of cheering sounded in response. Ash didn't join in — only managing a weak attempt at a smile — and he suspected that the straw hat girl didn't either, but he didn't dare look in her direction to find out.

"Great!" Daisy continued. "Although I'm sure some of you are wondering where Professor Oak himself is right now. I mean, it's not called _Professor Oak's_ summer camp for nothing, right? Well unfortunately, I've got some not-so-great news for you all. Professor Oak... won't actually be here for summer camp this year."

That statement went considerably less well with the children, who became increasingly unruly as they complained loudly about the news.

"OK, quiet everyone!" said Daisy, trying to take back control over the situation. "_**Quiet!**_ Alright. You see, Professor Oak is working on a really big project right now. Like, _really_ big. So he simply can't make it to summer camp this time. Sorry! But... someone's gotta take over summer camp, right? Well, that someone's gonna be me, Daisy Oak!"

Dead silence categorized everyone's response this time; clearly, no one felt particularly enthusiastic about that.

"Not too excited, huh?" Daisy responded to her audience, cheerful-sounding as ever, although Ash caught a brief flash of disapproval on her face. "Well, that's OK; I understand. I'm no Professor Oak, after all. But if you can't get excited about me, then let's get excited for our first activity of the day: a treasure hunt!"

That seemed to command everyone's full attention again, much to Daisy's immediately evident pleasure.

"Alright, some excitement from you guys this time! Now, I'm sure you all know how a treasure hunt works, right? There's a whole bunch of stuff that I've hidden in this forest here. Your goal is to find as many items as you can and bring them all back here. The person with the most items in the end wins! Simple, right?"

"I have a question," Leaf piped up. "How are we supposed to actually carry all of this stuff? I mean, if it's a treasure hunt, we're supposed to have a lot of things, right?"

That actually _was_ a pretty good question, Ash thought. Daisy, however, didn't really seem to have an answer for Leaf, if the increasingly nervous look on her face was any indication.

"Well, I, uh... just carry as much stuff as you can, OK?"

"But that means that we're all gonna have the same amount of items!" another girl responded from the opposite side of the circle. "How is anyone gonna win?"

"Don't worry about it!" Daisy responded again, this time looking considerably more flustered than before. "This isn't a competition or anything; we're all just here to have fun!"

"But _winning_ is fun!" yet another kid squealed, this time a boy a few persons down from Ash. "What's the point of a treasure hunt if someone doesn't wi—"

"_**I said don't worry about it!**_" Daisy suddenly shouted, this time using the megaphone. Her amplified voice crackled through the phone and cut sharply through the air, sending many of the kids' hands flying towards their ears to block the incredibly painful sound. And as Ash did the same, he could swear that he saw fire rising in Daisy's eyes as she said her words. But said fire ultimately faded almost as quickly, replaced by the same friendly eyes that Ash was familiar with along with a smile on her face, all as if nothing had even happened just a few seconds ago.

"Wow, I actually surprised myself there!" said Daisy in her normal, non-amplified voice. "Sorry, guys! But seriously, don't worry about it. Anyway, you'll all have thirty minutes to explore this forest and find as many items as you can for the treasure hunt! You can go anywhere you want, so long as you don't go past the cones and yellow tape; you'll know it when you see them. And if you're one of those people who are worried about getting lost in the forest and getting eaten alive by a Rattata or something like that," — she then winked at Ash with a quick and mischievous smile, causing him to flinch in place before blushing in embarrassment — "then simply stay within the cones and yellow tape! And when there's only five minutes left, I'll let you know! Just listen for the sound on my voice on the megaphone; you won't miss it!"

Ash was quite sure of that, given his still-fresh experience with the power of said megaphone. But his thoughts turned elsewhere as he began to wonder how he was actually going to go about doing this treasure hunt. He could already see his classmates converse amongst themselves with determined and plotting faces, almost certainly forming teams; teams that he was sure he was about to be left out of. In a burst of desperation, Ash turned over to Leaf, only to find that she had already run off with someone else. And so in another burst of desperation, he turned over to the straw hat girl...

"So if everyone's ready," Daisy's voice called out, "let's get this treasure hunt started! On the count of three: one, two, _**three!**_"

At "three", the circle of children exploded into chaos as everyone executed their plans to achieve treasure hunt victory. Ash, meanwhile, was left in the proverbial dust as he simply remained where he was, paralyzed by indecision and anxiety. Even the straw hat girl was gone, Ash realized, having obviously run off in some direction; with whom, if anyone, he had no idea. All he knew, and all that mattered, was that it wasn't him, and that he was alone once again.

"Ash?"

He turned around to see that Daisy was still standing there, staring at him with a perplexed look on her face.

"Um, what are you still doing here, Ash?" said Daisy. "You're gonna fall behind if you don't get started! Go on and win that treasure hunt!"

Ash didn't share her excitement, but he knew that he had little choice. He turned towards a random direction into the forest and ran off, being greeted by many extremely thick bushes and other exotic-looking flora that were a far cry from what he had traveled through earlier.

"Don't forget about the cones and yellow tape!" the now-very distant voice of Daisy echoed as Ash disappeared into the new dark and intimidating part of the forest ahead of him.

* * *

Ash found that he didn't really have any meaningful strategy for the treasure hunt as he began the first few minutes of his search. He ended up simply randomly scanning the area to see if he could find any typical hiding places for treasure hunt items, but all he could see was trees, more trees, and not much else. And it didn't help that he was wasn't sure about what he was supposed to be actually looking for, either.

As Ash took his search to some bushes and found nothing there either, he felt himself feeling increasingly depressed at his utter lack of luck. Were treasure hunts always this hard, Ash wondered, or was he just that horrible at them?

...yeah, that was it, Ash concluded. He couldn't do anything right, could he? He couldn't make any new friends, he couldn't go five minutes in a forest without being frightened by a Weedle of all Pokémon, and he looked like he wasn't going to be able to find even a single thing for this treasure hunt, either. He could hear the laughter of his classmates already...

Speaking of which, where was everyone? Ash thought, realizing that he hadn't seen anyone else the entire time he had been searching so far. Surely he should've run into someone by now; the forest couldn't be that big, right? Especially with the cones and yellow tape around...

Actually, where were the cones and yellow tape, anyway? Ash realized, scanning for them before coming up empty. He shouldn't be that far into the forest if he could find them, right? But if that was the case, then where exactly was he right now?

He did wonder why the forest was so dark, and in a moment of realization, he knew why. It was because he was deeper into the forest that any child should've been allowed to go into, and there were no cones or yellow tape to stop him. He had no idea how he managed to get himself to this point, but ultimately, the reason didn't matter. What did matter was a single resultant fact, one that Ash was now keenly aware of as he stared at the seemingly endless expanse of trees and bushes surrounding him.

He was lost.

* * *

Ash wandered around the forest, unsure of what to do. He considered simply waiting until Daisy's voice sounded on the megaphone, after which he could simply follow the sound back to camp. But if he really _was_ lost, Ash thought, then he could be so deep in the forest right now that he may not even hear it. But if it actually _was_ loud enough for him to hear, then—

"...Poli?"

Ash heard a weak, high-pitched cry just below him, one that could have easily belonged to a baby. He looked down to see a tiny blue Pokémon that barely reached past his knee, its body shaped like a circle and its stomach sporting a distinguishing swirl pattern. Like Weedle, Ash recognized this one from his studies at school; its name was Poliwag, a Water-type Pokémon. It stared straight at Ash with its large eyes, looking neither displeased nor particularly happy to see him, and in fact appearing rather confused at his presence.

It was then, however, that Ash had an idea.

"H-Hey... I'm lost," he said to the Water-type Pokémon. "Do you know if there's a way out of here?"

In retrospect, Ash realized that trying to talk to Poliwag was a rather foolish idea. It wouldn't have been able to say anything back to him — anything other than its name, anyway, as was the case with all Pokémon — which meant that asking it for something like directions would've been completely futile, assuming that it actually knew anything in the first place. And perhaps most relevantly to Ash at that moment, Poliwag were never renowned for their friendliness, a fact that Ash was about the learn the hard way. He was caught off-guard by the Poliwag's increasingly angry face in response to his question, but it was the deep breath that it took almost immediately afterwards — as if preparing to launch an attack — that alerted Ash to the full extent of its feelings, and signaled that he was about to be in serious trouble.

The very next second, a mighty, high-pressure jet of water launched out of Poliwag's mouth, headed directly towards Ash. He ducked, barely dodging the attack as it instantly took out a patch of the thick bushes behind him, leaving a deep hole in its wake. Panicking, Ash turned around to the closest opening he could find and ran off, once again finding himself running away from a wild Pokémon. This time, however, he didn't have to wonder whether or not he was being followed as he heard Poliwag's cry not far behind him, the small yet surprisingly agile Pokémon keeping up with Ash easily.

Before long, Ash felt the ground beneath him decline as he found himself running down a steep slope. He could see the bottom just a few feet from where he was, but before he could think about anything else he felt something hard hit his right foot, and before he knew it he was in the air, now flying rather than running down the rest of the way down the slope. He was ultimately released into a grassy clearing bathed in rays of sunlight, and Ash yelped his pain as he landed squarely on his left knee and skidded some inches on the ground after impact, marking the end of his brief yet frightening flight.

Barely a moment after Ash landed, Poliwag caught up with the young boy and stopped mere feet in front of him with its most agitated expression yet, before taking another deep breath. Ash, being in no position to run any further, resigned himself to his fate and braced himself for Poliwag's Water Gun attack...

...but instead, he found himself being "attacked" in quite a different way.

"Poli_wag!_" the Pokémon yelled at Ash, its cry ferocious even in its almost childishly high pitch. "Poli Poil_wag!_ Poli Poli _Poli!_"

"I'm sorry!" Ash cried out to the angry Poliwag. "P-Please don't hurt me!"

Poliwag, ultimately, did nothing of the sort. Rather, it simply turned its nose up at Ash before strutting back into the forest, leaving him alone again.

For what felt like an eternity to him, Ash just laid there on the ground, completely overcome with shock at what he had just experienced. His body ached all over from the fall, but nothing ached more than his left knee, which he knew probably looked horrible right now; there would almost certainly be a scar there. Tears formed in Ash's eyes as he began to process the full extent of his pain — physical and otherwise — and even though he held them back as hard as he could, he knew that it was a losing battle; he was the "crybaby", after all. Eventually he gave up trying, and before long he began to sob loudly and uncontrollably, soaking the ground beneath him with an endless stream of tears.

Ash's crying was soon interrupted, however, by the sound of rustling in one of the bushes at the edge of clearing, causing his fear to return yet again. Had Poliwag returned, Ash wondered, or did it bring friends with it this time, too? As infinite possibilities rushed through Ash's mind, the rustling sound became ever so louder, and its source ever so closer to Ash. Not knowing what he else he could do, he closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

The rustling sound occurred yet again, louder than it ever was. Ash knew that whatever was in the bushes had just come out, and that it was almost certainly right in front of him at that very moment.

"_Hey._"

It was a soft voice. And most importantly, it was a _girl's_ voice, not a Pokémon's...

"_**Hey!**_" the voice practically shouted at him, this time in a clearly more irritated tone. It was then that Ash realized: his eyes _were_ still closed, weren't they? With some bravery, he opened his eyes to the girl in front of him...

...and found a pair of piercing blue eyes staring straight at him, belonging to none other than the straw hat girl.

The sight of her startled Ash and sent him jumping back several feet, an act accompanied by a brief but high-pitched cry that seemed more befitting of a wild Pokémon than an eight-year-old boy. He would've never imagined that he would meet this girl again under these circumstances — or at all — and he was in no way whatsoever prepared for the encounter. All that he was able to say was:

"W-What are you doing here?"

He instantly regretted saying those words as he watched the straw hat girl's expression change from almost fascinated confusion to flat-out annoyance.

"Huh!? I'm explorin'! Wassit to you, anyway?"

_Her voice..._ it was the complete opposite of what Ash had expected. Or rather, her speech patterns were; they almost made her sound like she belonged to another region, or — if Ash had to be completely honest with himself — like she came from some backwater country region or something. _Where does this girl come from!?_ Ash wondered. But then a more immediately relevant question came to mind:

"Exploring? But, w-what about the treasure hunt?"

"What about it?" the straw hat girl almost immediately snapped back, startling Ash with the sheer speed at which she answered him. "It's a stupid game anyway; just runnin' around in circles lookin' for some stupid, worthless stuff. But what are you doin' here, if you're so worried about that treasure hunt? You explorin' too or somethin'?"

"I-I fell and... h-hurt my knee..." Ash told her, his tears returning as he was reminded of his pain.

"Lemme guess; you tripped on a rock or somethin'?" the straw hat girl replied, clearly unmoved by said tears. "Quit cryin' already; it can't be that bad. I mean, I fell from a tree as high as that one once," — she pointed at a seemingly random tree above — "and _I_ never cried!"

"But it really, really hurts!" Ash cried out, which merely earned him a heavy, exasperated sigh from the straw hat girl.

"If it's really that bad," she told Ash, "why don't you just go back to camp and get it checked out or somethin'?"

"I-I'm lost."

"Ah," the straw hat girl lazily replied, before turning around and pointing in the direction that Ash originally came from.

"If you go up that hill and take a left through those trees," she told Ash, "you'll see those cones that they put everywhere. Follow them and they'll lead you right back to camp."

"T-Thanks..."

"Uh-huh. Now if you excuse me, I've got some explorin' to do..."

And with that, she began walking towards the opposite side of the clearing to go deeper into the forest. Ash, meanwhile, was more eager than ever to get _out_ of the forest, even with the embarrassment of knowing that he would most definitely not be bringing anything back for the treasure hunt at this point. That became the least of his worries, however, as he took his first step and felt a stinging, paralyzing pain in his knee, which, of course, was his injured knee. An involuntary cry of pain burst out of Ash, catching the attention of the straw hat girl just as she was about to disappear into the bushes.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me. You can't even walk!?"

Clearly, Ash had caught her ire as well. Against his better judgement but in the face of bitter reality, Ash shook his head no. He expected to earn yet another irritated look from the straw hat girl, but instead she stared off into the distance, indeed looking slightly annoyed but also rather conflicted, as if she was torn between helping Ash again or just leaving him there. Before long, however, she made her choice; with a sigh, the straw hat girl walked back over to Ash.

"Lemme take a look at that knee..."

It wasn't a request. Before Ash even could even think about objecting or doing anything else, the straw hat girl was already right in front of him and in the middle of crouching down to his knee.

"Hold still," she ordered as she took an up-close look at Ash's injury. It was then that he realized that he never actually saw it up-close himself; he had been too busy crying over it to actually look. He joined the straw hat girl in observing the wound, and it was ultimately everything that he had feared it would be. His knee had been scraped well below the skin, with blood and dirt visible all over. Just looking at it was painful, and the straw hat girl, who winced noticeably at the sight, clearly would've agreed with that assessment.

"Okay, maybe this _is_ kinda bad," she conceded, looking at the wound with worry. "I've got an idea, though; don't move!"

The straw hat girl looked down at the long pink dress she was wearing, and frowned at it. She then grabbed one of its edges and, with a strong, merciless tug, tore it straight across the front before going sharply and abruptly down, ultimately breaking a large piece of her dress apart. Ash, witnessing the act, stared wide-eyed at the straw hat girl with complete shock and disbelief, his eyes beginning to fill with tears yet again. The straw hat girl, meanwhile, didn't even flinch at either his reaction or what she just did as she lifted up the broken piece of dress for Ash to see.

"Never liked that one anyway," she told him simply. "Now hold still... and _please_ stop cryin', okay?"

Ash sniffled in response, which the straw hat girl took as enough of an affirmative to shift her attention back towards Ash's injured knee. She then took the broken piece of dress and — with a surprisingly gentle hand, contrary to what Ash would've assumed from a girl like her — placed it on top of Ash's bleeding wound, creating a makeshift bandage out of it.

"This'll keep it from gettin' infected," the straw hat girl explained to Ash. "Trust me, you don't want _that_ to happen..."

Ash took her word for it, not wanting to imagine what an infected version of his knee would look like. He watched as the straw hat girl then looped the makeshift bandage around the back of his knee and began making a knot there, and Ash had a sneaking suspicion about what she was about to do next.

"This'll hurt a little," the straw hat girl warned Ash before she rather abruptly tightened the knot on the bandage, causing Ash to wince in pain at the pressure. So much for a gentle hand...

"Told ya," said the straw hat girl, having obviously sensed the pain in Ash's face as she completed her amateur patch-up session. She then stoop up and began admiring her handiwork, ultimately appearing rather pleased with what she had accomplished. Ash, while not exactly feeling that much better, couldn't really find any reason to complain; on the contrary, she had done arguably one of the kindest things that anyone had done for him the entire day.

"Not the greatest bandage ever," the straw hat girl remarked, "but it'll have to do. Now, we're gonna wanna head back to camp and get that checked out by someone who can _really_ fix that up."

Ash nodded in acknowledgement, right before he realized exactly what the straw hat girl had just said.

"Wait, _w-we!?_"

Ignoring Ash's surprise, the straw hat girl turned around and — rather inexplicably — lowered her back in front of him.

"Get on," she told Ash simply.

"Huh?"

"On my back."

"On your back!?" Ash cried incredulously at the straw hat girl. "But—"

"Just do it," she snapped, startling Ash yet again with her ferocity. "I'm a strong girl; I can handle it."

Ash had his concerns about that claim, but he was in no position whatsoever to argue with the straw hat girl, let alone right after she agreed to do something that she clearly didn't really want to do. He lifted himself up from the ground — avoiding putting pressure on his left knee while doing so — and, with some hesitation, placed himself on the straw hat girl's back, grabbing at her shoulders for support. She grunted slightly at the weight, but after lowering herself a bit more, she managed to keep Ash steady on her back; clearly, she actually _could_ handle it.

"I can't carry you up that hill back there, y'know," the straw hat girl informed Ash, who did wonder how she planned on carrying him up such a steep slope. "We're gonna have to find another way back."

Ash nodded, but the straw hat girl didn't seem to actually wait for his response before turning towards where she was originally about to leave. With a deep breath, she then pushed forward with Ash in tow on her back. Just as they were about to pass through the bushes, Ash suddenly realized that the entire time, he had neglected to ask the straw hat girl something very important: what her name was. She would've left without either of them even knowing each others' names, Ash realized in shame, and he knew that he should do something about that now, even as he could feel his usual anxiety rising up at the thought.

"Hey, I, um... n-never got your name..."

The very question made Ash feel incredibly uncomfortable, and he could only imagine what the straw hat girl was feeling right now, given how much of a hostile state she was in already. He was surprised, then, when she stopped and turned around at Ash with a completely puzzled look on her face.

"You... don't know who I am?"

Ash shook his head no, wondering why she would ask such a strange question; they definitely hadn't met before. The straw hat girl then shifted her gaze away from Ash and stared into space as if thinking deeply about something. Eventually she looked back at Ash, and it was then that she gave him something that Ash would have never expected from her in a million years:

A smile.

"I'm Serena."

_Serena..._ what a strange name for someone who was anything but calm, Ash thought to himself.

"And what was your name again?"

Ash couldn't help but smile himself as he realized that he might not actually return to camp with nothing after all. And so, with some inevitable but brief hesitation, he answered her:

"I'm Ash."


	2. Prologue, Part 2

**[Chapter 2]  
****Mirror Ash and Mirror Serena! The Perils of a Dangerous World!**

The summer morning sunshine was out in full force as Ash and Serena travelled through the forest together, the former on the latter's back. Feeling rather disoriented at his unique position off the ground at first, Ash soon found that — in a funny sort of way — he actually kind of liked riding on Serena's back, even as an increasingly intense feeling of pain on his left knee reminded him why he was there in the first place.

As the minutes passed by, however, Ash could see his line of sight moving closer and closer to the ground as Serena finally began to struggle underneath Ash's weight.

"You can get off now..." said Serena, her voice strained and weak. "Please..."

Having just reached a grassy clearing surrounded by small trees and bushes, Ash let go of Serena and allowed himself to slip off the side of her back and land on his side onto the soft grassy ground below. Serena, panting in complete and utter exhaustion, threw herself onto the ground, taking in every moment of relief as she laid there.

"Wow," she said in-between breaths. "You... are... _heavy!_"

"I-I'm s-sorry..."

Ash didn't really mean to cause this girl so much trouble, and he couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched Serena crawl over to one of the edges of the clearing, nearly directly opposite from where Ash had himself just rested.

"Why do you say sorry so much?" Serena suddenly asked as she rested herself against a nearby tree.

Ash felt a brief urge to look away from Serena before he realized that curiosity, not annoyance, defined her face now. Rather caught off guard by her question — one that he had never really even thought about before — Ash could only manage to say:

"I-I, um, well..."

"Don't worry about it too much," Serena interrupted. "It's not really a problem, you bein' on my back. I mean, I've carried things almost as heavy as you before."

"Wait, what!?"

"Mm-hmm. I lived on a farm for years, y'know; since I was little. We did a whole buncha stuff, and we had to carry a whole buncha stuff. It was hard, but it was kinda fun, too."

A somewhat sad smile started to appear on Serena's face, but it quickly disappeared as she started talking again.

"Oh, and that's also why I've got..." She looked down at the ground, hesitating. "...well, y'know."

"Have what?"

Annoyance returned to Serena's face almost immediately as she rather loudly replied:

"An accent, of course!"

"A w-what...?"

Serena sighed. "Y'know how I'm kinda lazy with my words and say some of 'em wrong?" she said. "That's 'cause of my accent. Northwest Johto accent, if you wanna be exact about it."

_So that's where she comes from, _Ash realized to himself. He then noticed Serena looking down at the ground again, after which he somewhat hastily replied:

"I-I don't think you sound that different."

Serena looked back up at Ash and sighed again.

"You don't have to lie about it," she said. "I mean, it's not like I can hide it or anythin'; everybody knows about it. You're just too nice to talk about it."

Ash quickly realized that his comment didn't really make Serena feel any better, and a feeling of guilt quickly washed over him.

"I-I'm sorry—" he began to say.

"_Again!?_" Serena suddenly shouted, startling Ash. "Jeez, you don't have to say sorry for being nice! What's wrong with you?"

That particular outburst ended up being too much for Ash to handle, who responded by burying his head underneath his knees and crying again.

"Oh, man..." Ash heard Serena say. "Look, _I'm_ sorry, okay? I'm sorry. Just stop cryin'... please?"

Ash, however, didn't stop. A few seconds later, he heard Serena get up from her resting place and walk over to where he was, sitting herself down next to him.

"Look... it's not bad that you're nice or anythin'," Serena's voice said. "'Cause y'know, you're the only one who's been nice to me this whole time, so... thank you. For bein' nice."

After a few more sniffles, Ash slowly emerged from his hiding place, his water-filled eyes meeting Serena's ones. To his surprise, there was no hint of annoyance or contempt in them this time; rather, they were surprisingly warm and open.

"Do they bully you, too?" Ash suddenly asked Serena, feeling oddly compelled to do so. She didn't respond, but Ash could see a flash of sadness appear on her face as she stared pensively into the distance; the answer was clear.

"Y'know," Serena started to say, meeting Ash's eyes again, "my grandma used to say to me: _'Serena! Y'know it's good to be strong, especially when you're a girl! But you don't have to act strong all the time, y'know! Why don' you try bein' a lil' nicer every once in a while? It doesn't hurt to be nice, Serena!'_"

She sighed yet again. "I didn't know what she meant by that, but I think I know now. I'm just too strong for my own good sometimes. I mean, I don't wanna be, but... sometimes I've gotta be."

"I think that you're a nice person, Serena," Ash told her.

"Nah, that's just _you_ bein' nice again," Serena responded. "I mean, I've been treatin' you like dirt all day and I shouldn't have. You're not like the rest of 'em."

"But you can't be that bad," Ash replied. "I mean, you fixed my knee and let me get on your back and—"

"Y'know I was gonna just leave you there, Ash," Serena interrupted. "Like I said, I'm not nice."

"But you came back," said Ash. "And you said sorry for everything, too..."

Serena simply scoffed at him. "Like _that_ means anythin'."

Ash then watched Serena stare off into the distance, looking rather angry. Not at him, he could tell, but rather about something else on her mind.

_What a weird girl,_ Ash thought. _But she really isn't that bad..._

"You _are_ kind of a crybaby, though," Serena suddenly piped up as she met eyes with Ash again, crossing her arms at him. "Tell me somethin'... you got any dreams or anythin'?"

"Huh?"

"Like, what's your dream?" Serena repeated. "What do you wanna be when you grow up?"

Ash hesitated as he looked down at the ground again. "I, um, don't really have anything..."

**"**Oh, come on!" Serena shouted, startling Ash yet again; a brief flash of guilt appeared on her face before she took a second to relax herself somewhat.

"Everyone has _somethin'_ they wanna be," Serena continued, slightly calmer this time. "Are you scared to say it or somethin'? C'mon, what's your dream?"

"I-I..." Ash stuttered, the words sticking over and over again in his throat before finally:

"I-I want to be a Pokémon Master."

Serena didn't respond immediately, instead staring at Ash with an expression that he couldn't read. Before long, however, Ash could see her start to chuckle a little bit.

"Ha ha, that's so funny..."

Ash started to look down in shame again.

**"...'**cause that's my dream, too!"

Ash lifted his head up, amazed. "Really!?"

"Hm-hmm!" Serena replied, a proud smile appearing on her face. "I was _born_ with a Poké Ball in my hand! There's nothin' I'd rather be than a trainer, and then one day, the Champion! Guess that means we're gonna be rivals, huh?"

"Maybe," Ash replied, feeling depressed all of a sudden. "If I was any good at anything."

Serena sighed. "Lemme give you a lil' tip," she said to Ash. "If you really wanna be a Pokémon Master, then you've gotta stop being such a crybaby. Your Pokémon aren't gonna believe in you if you don't even believe in yourself!"

"B-But—"

"Nuh-uh!" Serena cut him off. "No more of that crybaby stuff! You wanna be a Pokémon Master or not?"

"I-I do," Ash replied. "I'm... just not sure how. I'm not very good at this Pokémon stuff."

"Well, you're in luck," said Serena. "I may not look it, but I'd say that I'm pretty darn good at Pokémon battles. And I can't be havin' a crybaby rival, so y'know what? I'll help you."

"R-Really?"

"Yep!" Serena happily replied. "I'll teach you everythin' I know! Where do you wanna start?"

"Well, I..."

He paused.

"Wait a minute; how long have we been out here?"

Serena shrugged. "I dunno; twenty minutes, maybe?"

"Oh no!" Ash practically shouted in response, his heart skipping a beat. "The treasure hunt's probably over by now! We've gotta get back before—"

"Oh, calm down!" Serena interrupted. "They're not gonna get angry if we're just a lil' late, 'specially 'cause of your knee and all. And I betcha half the guys here got lost too."

She then got up from where she was sitting before taking a few steps towards the bushes outside of the clearing.

"C'mon, let's beat 'em to camp, and make _'em_ look bad instead of us!"

"O-OK..." Ash replied, carefully lifting himself up before limping over to Serena, reaching for her shoulders.

"Not on my back, Ash!"

"S-Sorry..."

Serena sighed as she extended an arm out to Ash instead, inviting him to her side for support.

"You really do say sorry too much," said Serena as Ash took her hand, prompting her to pull him over to her side. "But like I said, it's not a bad thing that you're nice..."

And with that, the two continued walking through the forest together.

* * *

"OK, so you're here... she's here... Leaf is here... so far, so good..."

Daisy was currently going down a list of all of the summer camp participants, having called everyone back from the treasure hunt with her megaphone.

_Guess I didn't do too bad with choosing a treasure hunt, huh?_ she thought happily to herself as she looked around to see children with many items cradled — or hastily stuffed — in their arms. _I thought I was so screwed when I told them!_

As she reached the end of the list, however, she noticed two people conspicuously absent from her count.

_Hmm... it looks like Ash is taking a bit longer for the treasure hunt. Don't know about that straw hat girl, though. I'll give them a little bit longer._

Around ten minutes passed as Daisy waited. She saw the children become increasingly restless as the minutes went by, obviously wondering why they were all just sitting there.

"Leaf, have you seen Ash anywhere?" Daisy eventually asked the girl. "Or Serena? You know, the girl with the straw hat?"

"No," Leaf replied. "Is something wrong?"

"Um... no, I don't think so," said Daisy, not entirely convincingly as Leaf gave her a concerned look. Feeling quite anxious all of a sudden, Daisy turned to the rest of the campgoers.

"Have any of you seen Ash?" Daisy asked them, more urgently than last time. "Or Serena? Ash or the girl wearing a straw hat, has anyone seen either of them at all?"

To her horror, every single person either said or shook their heads "no".

_Oh no..._

* * *

"So y'know I said that I fell from a really tall tree once?" Serena asked Ash as the two slowly progressed through the forest.

"Yeah," Ash replied.

"Well, I really did. And I really didn't cry neither, even though I wanted to. Y'know why I didn't?"

Ash shook his head.

"'Cause I knew there was worse that could happen than falling from a tree," Serena replied. "And if I cried at that, then I'd cry at everythin' else, too. I'd never become Champion if I did that!"

"I guess that's true," Ash replied quietly, feeling rather downcast at Serena's answer before she suddenly stopped in the middle in the road, pointing towards a faint opening in the woods to her right.

"This way," said Serena. Ash followed along as she turned in that direction, only for her to abruptly stop again.

"Serena?"

Ash felt Serena's body tense up next to him, her eyes locked at a faint black blob coming into view from the trees ahead of them. Before either of them could do anything, the blob burst out from the trees, revealing itself to be a large moth-like Pokémon with two large white wings, both larger than its dual-segmented purple body. Two red, blank eyes stared straight at Ash and Serena, its expression completely unreadable.

"Is t-that—"

"_Don't move!_" Serena suddenly hissed at him, her voice sharp and authoritative. "This is Butterfree..."

She then let go of Ash, forcing him to support himself as she took two slow, careful steps towards Butterfree, right before falling on her knees with her hands outstretched.

**"**Um, Butterfree, ma'am... we're really sorry for botherin' ya. Now if you jus' let us walk away, you won't have to worry 'bout us again..."

**"**H-how do you know that it's a gi—"

"_Shut up!_"

Ash flinched at Serena's sudden and panicked outburst, but that didn't compare to his reaction to seeing Butterfree slowly start to approach the two.

"_Oh, crap!_" Serena cursed under her breath. "Ash, take my hand!"

Ash hesitated, staring at Serena's outstretched hand, then at Butterfree, and then at Serena's hand again.

"_Quickly!_"

He obeyed, grabbing Serena's hand as tightly as he could.

"When I say go... _**GO!**_"

Serena charged back into the forest, dragging Ash along with her and forcing him to run in order to keep up and get away from the Butterfree that was now pursuing them. He winced with each step, feeling constant and intense pain on his injured left knee as he ran.

"Ash, I know it hurts, but you've gotta run!" said Serena as she pulled him harder. "That Butterfree's 'bout to have us for breakfast!"

"_What!?_" Ash shouted in surprise, his steps suddenly becoming ever so faster and his pain ever more tolerable after hearing Serena's words.

"They do this for fun!" Serena shouted back. "They're one of the most dangerous Pokémon you can ever meet!"

"How do you know all of this stuff!?"

"I—_aaaaaaahhhhhhh!_"

Serena had just tripped on a rock that she didn't see, sending her and Ash flying straight towards the ground. The force of the fall broke them apart and sent Ash landing a few feet away from Serena, who moaned in pain as she struggled to recover from what was evidently the worst part of the fall.

"Serena!" Ash cried out, lifting himself up before turning around to help her.

"No!" Serena practically screamed at him. "Just get outta here!"

"But I can't—"

"Go, you idiot!"

Ash flinched at those words — even knowing why she said them — but nonetheless, he followed her orders and ran as fast as he could in the other direction.

"To your right!" Ash suddenly heard Serena shout, and with a sharp and painful turn, he obeyed and turned to his right.

As he kept running, Ash turned around to see a rustling of leaves moving past where he had just turned, followed by another rustling of leaves a short distance behind that. Serena's intentions were clear: she was trying to lure Butterfree away from him.

"_C'mon!_" Serena's distant voice sounded behind Ash, obviously directed at Butterfree. The sounds of the two became increasingly inaudible as Ash kept running, and by the time he stopped some seconds later — having reached the limits of how far he could run with the stinging, burning pain in his left knee — he could no longer hear them at all. His own fast and deep breaths were the only things that he could hear, and a feeling of solace began to wash over him as he took in the stillness of the forest around him, far away from the dangers that he had been fleeing from not long before.

That solace soon vanished, however, when a loud shriek suddenly filled the air, followed quickly by a dull _thump!_ in the distance, the sound of something hitting something very, _very_ hard.

"_Serena!_"

Without thinking, Ash charged straight in the opposite direction as fast as he could, wincing with each step of his injured left knee. It took about a second for him to realize that he was doing something extraordinarily stupid right now, but a strange momentum kept him going, even as every other part of him told him to turn back.

He froze suddenly as he heard a loud, furious screech not far ahead of him. _Butterfree,_ Ash knew as he lowered himself into the tall weeds of grass beneath his knees, hoping to avoid its gaze. Inching closer, he stealthily made his way through the grass, and before long he found himself in view of a new clearing in front of him, where he found an extremely disturbing sight.

Ash found Serena there, slumped in a painful-looking position against a tree splotched with a sickening patch of red right above her. A trail of blood trickled down the side of her face from her disheveled honey blonde hair, grimly revealing which part of her body hit the tree first. She appeared disoriented if not nearly delirious, as though she was fighting off the inevitable unconsciousness that a lesser soul would have already succumbed to. Even in this state, however, Serena was able to spot Ash peeking out from the bushes, not far behind the Butterfree that was slowly but surely approaching her. She didn't speak — Ash didn't know if she even could right now — but in her eyes, Ash could easily tell what she was trying to say to him:

_Run, Ash! Run away and don't come back for me again! What are you waitin' for already; get outta here and save yourself!_

At first, Ash obliged, slowly retreating back into the bushes where he could sneak away unnoticed. But as he watched Butterfree get closer and closer to Serena, he found himself strangely unable to move away, and after a while he could feel the same momentum that brought him here drive his body forwards, rather than backwards.

Before he knew it, Ash found himself out of the bushes and into the open field, mere feet behind the Butterfree that was itself now right above Serena. And without thinking, he suddenly found himself reaching towards the ground, grabbing a nearby rock.

_Ash, what are you doing!?_ Serena said without words, her eyes wide in shock as Ash raised his arm into an arc, his hand shaking. Butterfree, noticing Serena's stare, turned around to see what she was looking at...

...right as the rock reached Butterfree, hitting it directly in its face.

The next second, Ash found himself looking straight at Butterfree, its attention shifted away from Serena to him. And even with its blank, unreadable glare, Ash could tell one obvious, very much immediately revelant fact.

_It was pissed._

If Ash would've been able to see Serena's expression at that moment, he knew for sure that it would've said something to the effect of: _You idiot! _But he never saw it, because he was now running back into the forest as fast as he could, not waiting for a second to see how Butterfree would respond to what he had just done. He realized that it hadn't been a moment too soon as he took in the sounds of wings fluttering furiously behind him, followed by the sight of a light golden powder suddenly surrounding him. Not knowing what this powder would do but certainly knowing that it couldn't be anything good, Ash covered his mouth and began holding his breath to avoid breathing in the fumes. This proved to be an increasingly difficult task as the powder reached him and began stinging his eyes, prompting him to close them shut. He was forced to run blindly through the forest now, not knowing or caring where he ended up as long as it was far away from Butterfree.

Before long, he began to feel the heat of sunshine on his face, just as the feeling of brushing against bushes suddenly became replaced with the feeling of open air. He continued running — taking in a deep breath of the clean air as he kept his eyes closed — but then he suddenly began to experience something else: the feeling of water splashing from underneath his feet, soon followed by the feeling of moisture seeping into his socks and shoes.

Stopping in his tracks, Ash opened his eyes to find an endless expanse of water ahead of him: the river at the very edge of Pallet Town and something that he had absolutely no hope of crossing. And turning around, he found Butterfree mere feet in front of him, the Pokémon having never missed a single step the entire time he had been running.

It was the end of the road now, in more than ways than one.

_At least Serena's safe..._ Ash thought to himself, his only solace as Butterfree moved to approach him, its intentions clear.

All of a sudden, Butterfree stopped, its antennae spiking up. Turning around to its right, a loud, panicked screech suddenly burst out out Butterfree as it swerved swiftly in the other direction...

...right before an explosion of white burst out of nowhere, consuming Ash's entire world with blinding light and blistering heat. And as Ash covered his eyes to shield himself, a familiar, frightening feeling washed over him... a feeling that he once had this experience before.

Eventually, the light vanished and the air returned to normal, prompting a frightened Ash to slowly move his arm from on top of his eyes and slowly open them. And once he did, a spectacular sight awaited him.

Right in front of him, a straight, burning line could be found running across the ground with black smoke emerging from its edges... smoke nearly as black as the line itself.

To the left, he could see Butterfree — or rather, what was left of it — flying in the air with a gaping, smoking hole where one of its wings used to be, blood slowly appearing along the edges.

And to the right, towering over everything around it, was the great dragon from Ash's dreams, along with its master; both of whom Ash could recognize from anywhere.

Professor Oak — the one and only, and in the flesh — stared at the wounded Butterfree with bloodlust in his eyes as his Dragonite gave a mighty roar that reverberated throughout the entire forest. Butterfree, clearly knowing that it was completely outmatched here, began to fly away, struggling with its one good wing.

"Dragonite, destroy that thing now!" Professor Oak commanded, even as the dragon already took several labored breaths to prepare another attack; alas, nothing came out of it.

"_Damn!_" Professor Oak cursed as he helplessly watched Butterfree escape into the woods. Dragonite mirrored its trainer's frustration, giving another loud roar before resting itself down on the ground in defeat.

_Hyper Beam,_ Ash knew. Not even a Pokémon like Dragonite could escape the crippling drawback of such a powerful move.

Before he could think about anything else, however, Professor Oak suddenly appeared just a few feet ahead of Ash, marching towards him with an almost frightening urgency.

"P-Professor Oak, I-I—"

The Professor stopped right in front of Ash, silencing him instantly with his fierce, towering presence. With ideas about what would happen next swirling wildly though his mind, Ash awaited his fate. Ultimately, however, Professor Oak had only one thing to say to him, a simple question asked with a quiet yet potent intensity:

"_Where is she?_"

* * *

Ash had been reduced to practically crawling by the time he returned to the clearing where Serena was. She was still and silent, which scared Ash for a moment before a slow, barely visible breath confirmed that she was still alive.

"Serena?"

She stirred in response, a light moan escaping from her as her head moved slowly in Ash's direction.

"W-What...?"

"It's okay, Serena!" Ash told her. "Butterfree's gone now. Professor Oak's here; just hold on a bit longer!"

Serena's eyes fluttered open, staring weakly into Ash's worried ones. It became increasingly difficult for her to keep them open as she struggled to say something, the words repeatedly dying in her throat.

"A-Ash..." Serena's almost startlingly weak voice finally called out. "I-I... I-I..."

Whatever Serena was about to say, she had finally run out of strength to say it, or to do anything else. She went limp within the next second, her head rolling to the side as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Get out of the way!" shouted Professor Oak from out of nowhere, shoving Ash aside before he could even think about responding. Landing on his back, he could only watch helplessly from the ground as the Professor observed Serena's unconscious form, eventually reaching for her wrist.

"Thank God; she's alive..."

He then spotted the light patch of red on the tree above Serena, narrowing his eyes at the sight of it. Reaching a hand slowly behind Serena's head, he pulled it back a few seconds later only to find a large patch of fresh, wet blood on his hand.

"Dammit, there's no time..." Ash heard the Professor say to himself, barely enough for anyone else to hear. "We're going to have to fly."

The Professor then carefully scooped Serena into his arms, lifting himself up with an audible grunt before carrying the unconscious girl towards Dragonite.

"Dragonite, take her!" Professor Oak commanded, lifting Serena into the dragon's arms. He then darted over to Dragonite's side, preparing to mount onto its back.

"Get on," Professor Oak said to Ash before mounting. "Unless you'd like to find your way back home through the forest!"

He most definitely didn't. With what little strength he had left, Ash powered through to Dragonite's side, allowing Professor Oak to rather roughly lift him up to join him on the dragon's back. Ash practically sunk himself onto the Professor's back in exhaustion, prompting a sigh from the Professor as he himself grabbed onto Dragonite's neck.

"I suggest you hold on tightly," Professor Oak told Ash. "_Very_ tightly."

"Tightly? W-what do you—_**W-W-W-WWWAAAAAAHHHHHH!**_"

Ash held on for dear life as he suddenly found himself rising hundreds of feet into the air within mere seconds, the forest below him becoming little more than an indistinct blur of brown and green. Nearly feeling like he was going to be sick, Ash closed his eyes tight as Dragonite rose even higher, sending fierce gushes of air flying about as it flapped its wings in flight.

Eventually, Ash could feel Dragonite charge forward, the force of inertia pushing him slightly backwards as he continued to hold on. As Dragonite began to slow down somewhat, Ash — with some courage — slowly opened his eyes.

Ash looked at his surroundings in wonder, not believing how high in the air he was right now. He could actually see the sparkling blue ocean in the distance, far beyond the forests and mountains surrounding Pallet Town. And as Dragonite flew gracefully and effortlessly across the skies, Ash — for a few wonderful moments — almost felt like he was Dragonite himself: free, fierce, and powerful.

Looking below, Ash could see a faint flurry of dots on the ground, all heading towards Professor Oak's lab not far ahead of them. _Daisy,_ Ash figured, along with the rest of the campgoers, of course. For a while, he could swear that he could see the dots slowly grow larger as he stared at them, right before he felt Dragonite slow down and lower itself towards the ground near the lab, its flight ending as it reached its destination.

* * *

Ash felt tense with worry and anticipation as he sat on a bench in the hallway of Professor Oak's lab. He had been staring intensely at a certain door for the past several minutes: the door that Professor Oak entered with Serena in his arms several minutes ago and hadn't left since, except once to briefly give Ash a bandage for his left knee. Even with said bandage, he could still feel the sting in his knee as he constantly moved his legs around, becoming increasingly restless as he fought off the urge to get up and look through the door's narrow vertical window to see what was happening inside.

Finally, the door opened and Professor Oak came out, but Ash couldn't even get a single syllable out before the Professor turned sharply in the other direction, vanishing into a nearby corner shortly thereafter. Ash soon found himself staring at the corner, then back at the door, and then the corner again, before finally he burst out from where he was sitting and ran straight towards the door.

Reaching it, Ash peeked through its window to find what looked to him like a doctor's office of some sort, with almost blindingly white walls starkly juxtaposed against shiny, clinical-looking metal tables and counters. Also noticed by Ash was an equally shiny and clinical-looking bed in the right-hand corner, flanked by an array of machines and medical equipment that Ash could never hope to identify. But much more important was the occupant of said bed, which Ash could very much identify as...

_Serena._

She was still unconscious, except this time Ash could see bandages peeking out from under her matted, unkempt honey-blonde hair, both stained with tinges of red. The sight of the blood alarmed Ash until he noticed another machine right above Serena and her bed: a heartrate monitor, displaying a slow but steady heartbeat.

Ash sighed in relief — at least he didn't kill her — but his relief would be short-lived, for a pacing of footsteps sounded just behind him and within the next second, he found himself staring into the eyes of none other than Professor Oak.

"P-Professor! I-I, u-um—"

"Do you know what that girl's name is over there, Ash?"

Caught off-guard by the sudden and unexpected question, Ash wasn't quite sure how else to respond other than to give the obvious answer.

"S-Serena?"

Professor Oak didn't have to change his expression an inch for Ash to know that it was the wrong answer. He continued:

"Do you know what Serena's _last_ name is?"

Ash had no idea, so he shook his said no, dreading Professor Oak's response.

"_Grace._ As in _Saki_ Grace, the famous Rhyhorn racer. And that, over there, is her equally famous child, Serena Grace."

Every part of Ash's face exploded in shock at Professor Oak's words. _Serena's... famous!?_

"I see that you're starting to recognize our problem here," Professor Oak continued, having witnessed Ash's expression. "Now, what do you think will happen when a rich and powerful woman like Saki Grace sees her daughter lying there, knowing that she may never wake up?"

"Never wake up!?" Ash exclaimed. "But she's fine right now... r-right? She's breathing and everything!"

Professor Oak sighed. "Have you ever heard of a coma, Ash?"

"A coma?"

Before Professor Oak could respond, a pair of hurried footsteps could be heard from the other side of the hall; the two turned around to see an exhausted-looking Daisy Oak approaching them.

"I counted everyone, like, three or four times downstairs," Daisy breathlessly said to Professor Oak. "Everyone's accounted for."

"Wonderful," Professor Oak replied in an almost startlingly flat and emotionless manner, his face barely moving an inch. "Now, would you care to explain how we got here?"

"H-How we... got here?"

"Oh yes," said Professor Oak, now practically staring daggers at his granddaughter. "After all, you were the one responsible for all of those children downstairs, correct? Including Ash here, and, of course, Miss Serena over there. And I'm sure that a certain important someone would like to know why her daughter is lying unconscious in bed with bloodstained bandages wrapped over her head, yes?"

"I-I, um... oh boy..."

As an increasingly distressed-looking Daisy struggled to find some sort of response for her grandfather, Professor Oak turned back to Ash, daggers now pointed at him.

"This is a family matter," said Professor Oak. "Leave us."

Ash did so without a moment's hesitation, practically running for the nearest exit.

* * *

About half an hour had passed since Ash joined the rest of his fellow campgoers in the waiting room downstairs. The room was consumed by whispered conversations, everyone no doubt speculating about what happened for their summer camp experience to end so abruptly. But Ash, knowing full well why, could only think about Serena's current state, and the likelihood that she would stay in this "coma" forever because of him.

Not far from where he was sitting, Ash spotted Leaf, who was currently staring into nowhere with boredom in her eyes, making an occasional _huff!_ of annoyance every so often. Having a question that he was sure only she could answer right now, Ash crawled over to her on his one uninjured knee and called out to her:

"L-Leaf?"

She turned around, flinching suddenly as she realized that someone was there.

"Ash!?"

Leaf appeared rather shocked to see him, much to Ash's confusion. He shook it off, however, as he pushed through with what he had come over to ask her:

"W-What's a coma?"

"A coma?" said Leaf, looking rather taken aback by Ash's question before composing herself. "It's, well... like a really long sleep that you never wake up from. It's kinda like dying, only worse."

Ash shuddered at the thought, while Leaf looked at him concernedly.

"Is that what's happening to Serena, Ash? Is she in a coma?"

"H-How did you kn—"

"We know," said Leaf simply. "You and Serena were the only ones who didn't come back."

Having received his answer and the horrifying truth behind it, Ash looked down at the ground in shame. "This is all my fault..."

Leaf looked at Ash with some concern in her eyes but said nothing, instead spending the next several moments looking down rather awkwardly at the ground herself. Eventually, however, Leaf looked back up at Ash and said:

"You know, Ash, if she really is in a coma, and if her mom finds out, then you should really figure out what you're gonna say."

"W-What I'm gonna say?" said Ash nervously, looking back up at Leaf. "To who?"

Leaf shrugged. "I don't know, the police?"

"The police!?" Ash nearly shouted, panicking. "W-Why them!?"

"Well, you see—"

"Don't scare Ash like that, Leaf!"

Both Ash and Leaf looked behind them in surprise to see Gary Oak approaching them, the boy ultimately sitting himself right between the two as he confronted Leaf with a startling fierceness in his eyes.

"He doesn't have to worry about anything," Gary continued, "because Serena's gonna wake up soon! Right, Ash?"

"R-Right..." said Ash, somewhere between tentativeness and awkwardness. Leaf, meanwhile, simply sighed.

"Leave it to Gary to not worry anything about everything," she said. "Where were you all this time, anyway? I was bummed out that you weren't here!"

"Well..." said Gary, hesitating slightly, "Gramps had me do something for him."

"Like...?"

"We were, um, looking at a Pokémon."

Leaf sighed again. "Top-secret, huh? You and Professor Oak sometimes. Speaking of which, you know that Ash saw a Butterfree out there, right?"

Ash could see Gary flinch ever-so-slightly at the name. "A-A Butterfree?"

"Uh-huh," Leaf answered, her face looking increasingly serious. "Do you know anything about that, Gary?"

"No," said Gary, shaking his head. "Why would I know anything?"

Leaf suddenly started eyeing Gary intensely, as if trying to look directly into the very depths of his soul for the answers she was looking for. Gary, meanwhile, looked increasingly nervous at Leaf's stare before she finally replied:

"Because I think that Professor Oak might have something to do with all of this!"

"Huh!?"

"Yeah!" Leaf continued. "I mean, you know that Butterfree are _really_ dangerous, right? Like, people actually make sure that they don't show up in cities and stuff. Don't you think that Professor Oak's doing the same thing here in Pallet Town?"

"Yeah..."

"Exactly. So you know what I think? I think he let that Butterfree out on purpose!"

"What!?" Gary practically shouted, appearing completely flabbergasted at what Leaf just said. "Why would he do that!?"

"I don't know, but look. I know that he's your grandpa and all, but... I don't think that Professor Oak is all that he says he is. I mean, if you've heard what my mom says about him—"

"That's just one person, Leaf!" Gary countered. "You can't say that someone's doing something just because of one person!"

"She's my mom, Gary."

"And he's my gramps!"

For a few moments, neither one of the two children said anything, with Leaf retaining her serious expression while Gary appeared increasingly upset at how the conversation was going.

"Gary, are you totally sure you haven't seen anything weird?" asked Leaf, breaking the silence. "Because if he's doing something bad—"

"He's not!" Gary countered again.

"—then you might be the only one who can find out!" Leaf finished.

Gary blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I think you need to go into Professor Oak's lab to see what's really going on."

"What!?" Gary shouted as loudly as he had yet, any sign of him holding back completely gone. "I'm not doing that! No way!"

"And if he _is_ doing something bad, you're just gonna let it happen?" Leaf shouted back at him, having begun to lose her composure herself. "What if someone else gets hurt next time? What if it's me, or Ash?"

"Leave Ash out of this, Leaf!"

Leaf ignored him and turned over to Ash, who, having listened to Leaf and Gary's entire conversation, had been reduced to practically a deer in headlights at this point, unable to move clear of their chaos if he wanted to.

"What do you think, Ash?" Leaf asked him, her voice calm and measured as if she had never been shouting at someone just a few moments earlier. "If you thought something bad was happening and that someone might get hurt, wouldn't you do everything you could to stop it?"

"Come on, Leaf; leave him alone!" said Gary, inching closer to Ash. "Don't you think he's feeling bad enough already?"

Before either Leaf or Ash could respond to him, the loud, shrieking voice of one of the other campgoers filled the room:

"Look, it's Professor Oak's Dragonite!"

The room exploded as everyone ran towards the window on the far side of the room, including Leaf who gave Gary a brief, serious-looking glare before following the others. Ash and Gary didn't join them, instead watching as everyone struggled for a looking spot at the small windowsill.

"Lucky," Gary said to Ash as he made himself comfortable on a nearby, newly-free chair. "She didn't bother you too much, did she?"

Ash shook his head, but he could still see some concern on Gary's face, right before a light but palpable boom suddenly shook the building.

"Wow, that was Dragonite's Hyper Beam attack!" squealed one of the children over at the windowsill.

"What was it aiming at, though?" asked another.

"I saw a little dot there a second ago," yet another child piped up. "It was moving kinda weird."

"I saw it too!" the first child said. "But I don't see it anymore; where'd it go?"

Ash could hear Gary sigh quietly next to him, looking rather depressed all of a sudden as the children continued their conversations.

* * *

The waiting room was marked by an almost eerie quiet as Ash sat there alone, the other campgoers having long since been picked up by their parents. He had lost track of how long he was there, but he could see that the sun had moved quite a bit from the window since the children were there before.

As he was in the middle of contemplating everything that happened to him today, he heard the door open some distance away from him. Turning around, he saw Daisy Oak there, who did a double-take at the sight of him.

"Whoa, I didn't know you were still here, Ash!" Daisy said in surprise. "Your mom hasn't come to pick you up yet?"

"No," Ash answered simply. He could see Daisy frown somewhat at that answer before he decided to change the subject.

"I-It... wasn't too bad, was it? You and Professor Oak?"

Daisy sighed. "I'll live. But on a happier note, I've got some good news for you. Serena's going to be alright!"

"Really?" said Ash.

"Yep!" Daisy replied with a smile. "Better than that, actually; she's already been patched up and everything! She's not awake right now, though, in case you were wondering. Her mom's on her way to pick her up tonight."

Ash felt himself flinch at that last part.

"She's... leaving already?"

"Well, yeah," Daisy replied. "Summer camp's cancelled now, so I guess her mom figured that there's no reason for her to stay anymore."

"Right..." Ash quietly responded as he felt his heart sink slowly at what he was hearing.

"I guess that you'll want to say goodbye to her, huh?" said Daisy, noticing Ash's increasingly sad expression.

Ash shook his head. "I want to say sorry to her."

"Huh?" Daisy blinked.

"If I wasn't such a crybaby," Ash replied, "then Serena wouldn't have gotten hurt and none of this would've happened. I ruined summer camp for everyone and it's all my fault!"

"Your fault!?" Daisy exclaimed. "Ash, absolutely none of this is your fault!"

She then paused for a moment as a sullen look appeared on her face. "It's mine."

"...W-What?"

"I... didn't have a lot of time to prepare for all of this," she explained. "That's no excuse, but... I rushed things and messed up on the cones. I guess that's why you never saw them and got lost."

Daisy sighed. "I failed you today, Ash, and I failed everyone else, too. Because if things had gone worse than they did, then... t-then..."

Ash could see tears start to form in Daisy's eyes, but she quickly wiped them away before suddenly kneeling down to Ash, meeting him at eye level with a very serious look on her face.

"I'm gonna make a promise to you, Ash," said Daisy. "I promise that I'll never, ever put you in that kind of danger again. Hold me to that, OK?"

Ash nodded, not really knowing how else he could respond to that.

"And in exchange," Daisy continued, this time with a much brighter expression, "I want you to make me a promise, too. Never blame yourself for something that's not your fault."

"B-But I—"

"Promise me?"

Ash sighed. "I'll try..." he ultimately responded, not entirely sure how well he could actually keep a promise like that.

"Alright!" Daisy replied, seeming confident enough in Ash's answer as she stood back up, smiling brightly at him.

"Don't let life get you down too much, Ash," said Daisy. "We all made some mistakes today, and yeah, some of them were pretty big. But we dodged some serious bullets, too. So let's celebrate a little! All's well that ends well, and may nothing like this ever happen again!"

Ash simply nodded, finding at least some conviction with the last part of what Daisy said.

"Oh, and I have something I want to show you," said Daisy as she reached into her pocket for something, ultimately producing a small, crumpled-up sheet of paper.

"I think that Serena wanted to give you this," Daisy explained to a rather confused-looking Ash before presenting the paper to him. Looking to see what was on it, Ash found something scribbled there rather messily to the point of being barely legible, but he could nonetheless make out:

_**Serena GRACE  
**__**103 Rue des coeurs étincelants  
**__**75006 Lumiose  
**__**Kalos**_

"It... looks like an address," Ash thought out loud, staring curiously at the region in particular. "Does this mean that I can write to her?"

"I think that you can!" Daisy replied, smiling happily at Ash. "Looks like the two of you are going to be the best of friends now, huh?"

Ash couldn't help but smile back this time, but it didn't last long as a series of loud knocks sounded near the door.

"Don't move!" Daisy suddenly ordered, right before she snatched Serena's paper out of Ash's hand and stuffed it rather crudely back into her pocket. Ash, shocked at what just happened, opened his mouth to say something before being _ssshhh!_-ed by an increasingly anxious-looking Daisy.

"Anything you send to Serena, send it through me, okay?" Daisy whispered to Ash, looking nervously behind her every few seconds. "Don't let your mother know."

"B-But—"

"Trust me," Daisy said before running over to the door, composing herself with a deep breath before opening it.

The one behind it — none other than Delia Ketchum herself — promptly let herself in.

"Hello, Ms. Ketchum," Daisy greeted with a smile on her face, albeit one that looked more... _off_ than Ash would've expected from her. Delia, meanwhile, didn't return it.

"Where's Professor Oak?" she asked, tenseness radiating from practically her entire body. "I need to speak with him right now!"

"He's, um... busy right now," Daisy answered, still smiling, albeit increasingly less so by the second.

"I'd imagine," said Delia, looking rather irritated at her answer. "But _where_ is he exactly, Daisy? I need to speak with him _now!_"

"Well, he's probably outside, in the forest," Daisy replied, her smile having faded completely at this point. "You can try looking for him there if you like."

Delia gave Daisy a rather funny look at that answer before turning around to her son.

"Time to go home now, Ash," she said, walking over towards him before suddenly tumbling onto the floor, groaning and laying her hand on her forehead in pain.

"Dammit... _agh!_... not another one!"

"Are you alright, Ms. Ketchum?" Daisy asked concernedly — although again looking more _off_ than Ash would've expected — as she walked over to Delia and offered a hand to her.

"It'll go away," Delia responded simply as she lifted herself up. "I mean, I'm sure that kids your age can... _agh!_... relate to this kind of thing."

Daisy sighed. "No, I don't really think I can," she said, barely enough for anyone to hear. Delia didn't respond, turning her attention back to Ash instead.

"Come on, Ash; let's go," Delia told her son, stretching out a hand to him that he promptly took. As the two walked towards the door, Delia looked back at Daisy.

"Do tell your grandfather — wherever he is — that I need to speak with him _now_."

"Will do," replied Daisy, giving a rather sad look at Ash as he and his mother left the room.

* * *

"So, did you manage to find a friend at summer camp?" Delia asked Ash as the two walked down the road outside, illuminated brightly by the light of the afternoon sun. Ash, who at one point shuddered at the very thought of making a new friend at summer camp, was now positively brimming with confidence as he answered:

"Yeah, I did!"

"Really?" said Delia, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Well, then; what's their name?"

"Serena!"

"Wait, _her!?_" Delia practically shouted as she stopped dead in the middle of the road, startling her son who felt his heart sink at her response. After a while, however, she relaxed herself, taking a deep, reserved breath.

"Whatever; I'll take that. Congratulations. Too bad you're probably never going to see her again."

"Yeah," said Ash, looking down in disappointment for more reasons than one. "But that's okay, because..."

"Because what?"

Ash felt the words on the tip of his tongue, but then he remembered what Daisy told him and realized that it was probably best that they stayed there.

"Nothing," he ultimately said, earning a confused stare from his mother before the two continued down the road towards their house.

* * *

The day ended the same as it began for Delia: sprawled out on the living room couch fast asleep, wearing the very same pink bathrobe that she had been wearing in the morning. The TV watched her as the nightly news blared out from the speakers, loud enough to drown even Delia's rather loud and heavy snores.

For Ash, meanwhile, it would be much longer before he would be asleep. He spent the night in his room, the space illuminated by nothing other than the glow of the moon outside and the glow of the TV that Ash's eyes had been glued to for hours. He was watching an epic Pokémon League battle from long ago, recorded on videotape. Countless other tapes found their home in Ash's room, some neatly stacked inside the TV stand, and a handful of others scattered about on the floor. They were well-loved and well-worn, with the scratchy, spotty picture of the currently playing tape only barely holding itself together on the TV screen. They were much like Ash's dreams: faded, fragile, and fleeting... but not quite finished yet.

_One day_, Ash thought to himself, staring determinedly at the TV screen,_ that's gonna be me. It's gotta be! I will become a Pokémon Master!_

_...crybaby..._

That last word lingered in Ash's mind as he threw in the towel for the night, clicking off the TV after fighting off many yawns. As he buried himself beneath his covers, he prepared himself for the next day, and for the many more after that before the one day he was waiting for above all others...

...the day that he would become a Pokémon trainer.

* * *

It was deep in the middle of the night. All was quiet in Pallet Town, with every light turned out and every citizen of the town fast asleep.

That is, except for one light, and for one particular person who was anything but asleep.

Professor Oak was currently toiling away at a desk inside his laboratory, observing a pile of documents that he alone in Pallet Town could even begin to decipher. As he flipped towards another page, however, a series of loud, hurried knocks sounded from the door on the other side of the room, interrupting his task.

Lifting his head at the disturbance, Professor Oak looked over towards the door and smirked.

"You're here early."

The door burst open, revealing none other than Delia Ketchum behind it as she furiously marched over towards Professor Oak.

"What the hell happened out there today?" Delia practically shouted at him, banging a clenched fist onto his desk. "Do you know how much trouble you could've caused me with that thing?"

Professor Oak, not even flinching at anything that just happened, merely scoffed in response. "Like you give a damn."

"...about Butterfree?"

Professor Oak smirked again — this time in full view of an increasingly agitated Delia — as he returned his attention to the documents that he was working on before.

"I said _what happened_ out there?" Delia shouted again.

"Do you really want to know?" said Professor Oak, looking back up at Delia. "Alright, then... someone broke into the lab and released Butterfree."

"Someone... saw the lab!?" an absolutely horrified-looking Delia responded. "Oh, God... do you who it was, at least?"

"Yes, actually," Professor Oak replied. "But you needn't worry; they've been taken care of."

If Delia didn't look like she was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown before, she most certainly did now.

"...I don't even want to know."

Professor Oak shrugged. "You asked," he replied simply, ignoring Delia's pale-looking face as he shifted his gaze back downwards. "Is that the only thing you came here to tell me?"

"Not at all," Delia replied, her face becoming serious. "You know who came over to my house last night?"

"I can't possibly imagine."

"A Jenny!"

Professor Oak looked up at Delia again, a wave of interest flashing across his face.

"Oh? And what kind of business would a Jenny have with someone like you, Delia?"

"What do you think?" Delia practically shouted again. "They freaking interrogated me!"

"About...?"

"About _you!_" Delia replied. "You and... whatever you do in that lab of yours."

"And what did you tell them, exactly?"

"Not a damn thing!" said Delia. "I mean, what could I even say to them, anyway?"

"Nothing of value, I'd presume."

"Samuel, I swear if you don't get all of this nonsense together—"

"Again," Professor Oak interrupted, raising a hand up to silence her, "you needn't worry. But I suppose that does explain why you weren't at summer camp along with the other parents."

"Huh?" Delia blinked.

"I thought that it might've had something to do with that crybaby son of yours, but I think I know now... you took another _swim_ last night, didn't you? If you know what I mean. Had to dry up with some of that morning coffee of yours again, right?"

A long, heavy silence came over the room as Delia stood speechless — catatonic, even — at what Professor Oak had just said. After a while, however, she recovered, and did so with a quiet yet potent vengeance that showed all over her now twisted, furious face.

"I'm leaving now," said Delia, turning towards the door behind her in a heavy, hurried strut.

"Know thyself, Delia!" Professor Oak called out to her as she left. "Or any victory you achieve will also be defined by loss!"

"Whatever," Delia spat back as she disappeared into the darkness beyond the door, slamming it shut behind her.

A light snicker escaped from Professor Oak as he got up from his chair and turned his attention towards other things, namely the large, hand-painted portrait of himself behind his desk that dominated practically the entire wall. Professor Oak, however, wasn't interested in admiring said painting, and instead he placed his right thumb on a seemingly random and innocuous spot on the wall next to it. An inexplicable beep sounded at his touch, followed by a "click!" as the painting popped open to reveal a secret compartment — or more like a hole — dug deep into the wall.

Inside the hole were three rather peculiar items. The first item was a thick black book, its length alone daunting to all but the most disciplined and scholarly of readers. On the front, emblazoned in stark golden letters, was its name: "_The Art of War,_ by Sunzi".

The second item, placed on top of said book, was a small black handgun, fitted with a suppressor and accompanied by a pair of magazines with which to load the deadly weapon with. A few boxes of exotic-looking ammunition were scattered about, including a conspicuously empty box.

The last item, situated at the very back of the hole, was a picture frame. It was placed face down on the floor, barely visible in the darkness of the hole.

Professor Oak reached his hand into the hole, grabbing for the item that he was looking for. Having finally retrieved it, he pulled it out and looked down at the object with a dark and serious face, thinking deeply about what he planned to do with it.

The faces of his grandchildren — Gary and Daisy Oak, much younger than they were now — smiled back at him. Pure happiness radiated from both of their faces, as if they didn't have a single care in the world.

At the sight of them, Professor Oak could only sigh.

"Ten years from now... it'll be one of you."

He returned the picture frame to its home — face-down as it always was — and closed the secret compartment door.


End file.
